Kansas City, get ready. The 2013 MLS All-Star Game is coming to Livestrong Sporting Park.

MLS on Thursday announced that Sporting Kansas City would play host to the July 31 event. MLS will announce the opponent at a later date.

"This market has just been so incredibly exciting for all of us at Major League Soccer, and really for soccer fans throughout the United States and North America," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "This has been one of the great, great success stories for our sport."

Garber said that Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes would serve as coach for the MLS team.

The MLS All-Stars are 6-2-1 against elite international clubs. Chelsea FC played in last year's event, losing 3-2 at PPL Park in Chester, Pa. The MLS All-Stars also have faced, over the years, Manchester United, Everton FC and Chivas de Guadalajara.

Since the re-branding of the franchise and the opening of the state-of-the-art Livestrong Sporting Park, Kansas City has become a hotbed for soccer. SKC sold out 17-of-18 MLS regular-season games last season and all matches in the club's run to the U.S. Open Cup title plus international matches in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and CONCACAF Olympic qualifying.

The game in Kansas City, Kan., follows a successful showing by the metro area as host for Major League Baseball's All-Star Game last summer. Fans packed every event during the weeklong festivities at Kauffman Stadium, across the state line in Kansas City, Mo.

"You want to really highlight how engaged Kansas City is in soccer, and I think that's going to be a phenomenal opportunity for us," Mayor Joe Reardon said. "Last year's game against Chelsea in Philadelphia was fun to watch on TV. Now we're going to get to watch it right here."

The past few years, MLS has brought its All-Star games to the smaller, soccer-specific stadiums that have popped up in its markets across the country.

Garber said it's important to reward those who invested in the facilities rather than playing the game at a larger stadium that could generate more revenue. That's why the game will be played at Livestrong Sporting Park, which opened in 2011, rather than at Arrowhead Stadium, the home facility of the Kansas City Chiefs.

"There's been a massive financial commitment by the team and the community to build this stadium, and they deserve to have this showcase rather than playing it in a larger venue where we could arguably make more money," Garber said. "We're proud of that."

Sporting KC's average attendance last season, when the club won the regular-season Eastern Conference championship, was 19,404 — well over the listed seating capacity of 18,467, thanks to a number of areas where standing-room tickets are sold.

"The goal and vision for the club is to win MLS Cups. Let's always be clear," said Sporting KC CEO Robb Heineman. "But this is a great day for the stadium and the city. It's the kind of event we always wanted to have, and for it to come to fruition so quickly is a great thing for us."